17 Big Cats Saved from Suffering as Circus Animals Find Freedom at Sanctuary in South Africa
17 Big Cats Saved from Suffering as Circus Animals Find Freedom at Sanctuary in South Africa
The lions and tigers took a 34-hour flight to reach their new home at the ADI Sanctuary in South Africa
By Kelli Bender January 24, 2020 11:58 AM
After spending years performing in circuses in Guatemala, and patiently waiting through an 18-month rescue mission, 12 tigers and 5 lions are finally free.
In 2018, Animal Defenders International (ADI), working with authorities in Guatemala, helped enforce Guatemala’s circus animal ban by rescuing the big cats as part of their Operation Liberty mission. On Wednesday, that mission came to a heartfelt conclusion, when all of the animals were released into their new home: the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary in South Africa.
“These animals have experienced a lifetime of suffering and abuse in circuses in Guatemala but those days are over. At the ADI Wildlife Sanctuary, our place of loving kindness, the tigers and lions can run, play, and explore their wonderful, natural surroundings under the African sun. The beginning of the rest of their lives, we could not be happier for them,” Jan Creamer, President of ADI, said in a statement.
The last step of this long journey began on January 18 at the ADI Temporary Rescue Center in Guatemala, where the big cats had been living since being saved from circus life. Each of animal was carefully loaded into their own travel crates and trucked to an airport in Guatemala.
More:
https://people.com/pets/tigers-lions-saved-circus-freed-adi-sanctuary/
More images of these big kitties saved by Animal Defenders International at google images:
https://tinyurl.com/uba7pha
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By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
January 21, 2020
WINBURG, South Africa (AP) — Twelve tigers and five lions have been relocated to a sanctuary in South Africa after being rescued from circuses in Guatemala following years of abuse and confinement.
The animals, both cubs and adults, are among 200 that have been rescued from the circus industry in Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia since 2018. The countries have banned the use of animals in circuses.
Enforcement of the law in Guatemala has been a challenge, so the government has partnered with animal rights groups such as the London-based Animal Defenders International to help.
“These animals have suffered a lifetime of deprivation and abuse,” ADI president Jan Creamer said in a statement. The group runs the South Africa sanctuary, which is already home to 26 rescued lions.
More:
https://apnews.com/a750c6dbc0e34788898d9e4e95bbae43
